


Misery Tolerates Company

by Checklatechippancakes



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Arc-V Angst Week, Gen, fairly accurate depiction of how a support group meeting goes, implied guardianshipping, there's a lot of suffering and crying
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-18
Updated: 2018-09-18
Packaged: 2019-07-13 23:36:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,395
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16028348
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Checklatechippancakes/pseuds/Checklatechippancakes
Summary: After the attempts of un-carding people fails, Yuuya holds a support group for everyone impacted by it.





	Misery Tolerates Company

**Author's Note:**

> Arc V Angst Week. Day 3: carding

To gather was natural. People, animals, plants, even bacteria gathered together. The faces around were all different, their expressions however, matched. Shingo, Masumi, Yaiba, Gongenzaka, Yuzu, Sora, Shun, Shinji and his kids, and in the center of it all, Yuuya. He gently rapped the gavel onto the podium. “I call this meeting of the ‘Loss of a Loved One Via Carding’ to order.” He looked over the circular sea of unhappy faces. “Would anyone like to go first?”

Despite the desperate attempt to reverse the process, it had been too late. No one but Leo could figure the machine, and as they watched it burst to flames… it felt beyond hopeless. Countless lives, all over the dimensional map… lost forever in an instant. Yuuya refused to let everyone wallow in misery, insisting the others join the support group. There was no enforced participation; if anyone wanted to tell a story, they could.

But it really seemed as if no one wanted to.

“Uhh,” Yuuya traced a line on the wood with his finger. “If no one wants to start, I guess I can- oh! The floor recognizes Shiun'in Sora.”

Sora laughed as he got up from his seat. “Yuuya, this doesn’t have to be _that_ formal.”

Yuuya sat at the chair directly next to the podium, placing a caring hand on Yuzu’s shoulder. She shakily held about three different cards and was trying her best not to cry.

“I’m here for the Fuuma twins, Hikage and Tsukikage.” Sora slid a picture under the overhead’s capture. “I asked around for a picture of the two together, and came across this one. I like it a lot.”

“Sora,” Yuuya whispered, “that’s a picture of two trees.”

Nodding, Sora wiped away a small tear from his eye. “They really _were_ the best ninjas.”

Shun, across the room, holding a binder full of carded XYZian people, glared at Sora. “Sora,” he growled, “ _you_ were the one who carded Hikage! Don’t try to pretend you feel sorry for that just because his brother forgave you some reason!”

“Oh,” came a voice from across the room, “you think _you_ can lecture him about that when _you_ tried to card Dennis?” Gongenzaka was very forceful towards getting his friend’s card back, despite other members of You Show wanting the card as well. Gongenzaka knew more about Dennis than any of Dennis’ old peers. He was sure of that.

“ _And_ he carded Marco-sensei!” Yaiba and Shingo desperately tried to hold Masumi back from getting up and taking Shun on herself. Normally they would let her, but it wasn’t the time or the place for any physical fighting. “You’re always talking about how your stupid revenge is justified! It’s not!”

“Guys please!” Yuuya announced, standing up and frantically waving his arms. “We don’t have to fight about this! We’re all in the process of mourning, but this time is for _celebrating_ the _good_ times we had.” Yuuya looked at them all with pleading eyes, watching as they all sat down, muttering apologies. “Sora?”

“Uhh…” He rubbed the back of his head, unsure how to recover. “So, as Shun said, yes, I was on the villain’s side, but then I learned, and I deeply regret the way Academia conditioned us.” He took the picture back, looking at it with a small smile. “Tsukikage is a kind soul, who took me under his- uhh… scarf- and helped me better myself.” He looked up his smile widening, seeing the less tense crowd. “We even got our asses kicked by Roget together.” Sora nodded in agreement to Shinji’s booing. “He was probably one of my best friends, especially…” he trailed off, staring at the floor, “considering I didn’t even find out what happened until… way later. After he was…” Sora sniffed, stepping away from the podium, heading back to his seat.

Yuuya reached over to Sora as he dashed off, too slow to grab his shoulder. He walked back to the podium, seeing Gongenzaka pull Sora into a hug. “Thank you. Would anyone else like to share?” Yuuya nodded to the large cluster of hands on the left side of the circle. “The floor recognizes Weber Shinji, Hogan-Weber Amanda, Hogan-Weber Frank, and Hogan-Weber Tanner.” The cluster stood, walking over to the podium. “And Sawatari Shingo, I guess,” he added, seeing Shingo head over as well.

“The kids wanted to talk, so I’ll make my bit short: my husband was a good man,” his features hardened, turning low and pained, “and for that, I will never forgive myself. He was… _carded_ while he was still mad at me. I don’t know what his last thoughts were, but I hope it wasn’t regret for wasting his time with an idiot like me.” The crowd looked puzzled, most having no idea what Shinji had done. Shinji kneeled to his kids. “Dad’s gonna sit down now. You three think you can do it yourselves?”

The trio nodded, Shinji heading back to his seat, glancing briefly at Yuuya as he cut the circle. Amanda angled the microphone down, tapping it. “Mr. Jack Atlas and Damon and Tony were supposed to come too, but they all said they should give Yuuya a break with reading all our names at once.” The circle laughed, Shinji smiling. His jokes always went over better when he wasn’t the one saying them. “Papa Crow was the best! We love him a lot! He told us to keep our chins up even in the worst conditions.”

Frank leaned in, turning the microphone to him. “He took us in when it was super stormy and cold. We could have died without him.” There was an uncomfortable stillness in the room. “We owe our lives to him.”

Tanner, a little short for the podium, leaned up on his tip-toes. “He made us soup!” Their gentle smiles juxtaposed the radiating pain throughout the room.

Their faces looked a little pained. “We’re… smiling for him. He wouldn’t want us to be sad. Even when he’s gone forever.” Like a knife, Amanda’s comment cut through the room.

“Oh!” Tanner said, tugging on Amanda’s sleeve. “And Sawatari-Onii-chan wanted to say something too!”

Shingo glared, a hint of blush on his face. “I already told you not to call me that.” The three just smiled up at him, ready to say it again if necessary. “Uh… I was there when Crow was carded. He only got carded to protect me.” He blinked, a tired expression blanketing him. “If not for him, I would be the one in the card. And…” He choked up, the kids placing their hands onto his arms in reassurance. “I’m pretty sure if I went out like that, I-I wouldn’t have been missed.” He pulled away from the kids, covering his face with his hands as he wailed. “I’m so sorry Crow!”

The kids walked Shingo back, Amanda holding his hand as he rubbed at his red face with his other hand. They sat down, Tanner climbing into Shinji’s lap. Yuuya took the podium, disheartened by the somewhat sadder crowd. “Does… anyone else want to go? Shun?” Shun looked to the floor, putting his binder away and shaking his head gently. “Gongenzaka?” Gongenzaka looked up to Yuuya, Sora’s cheek pressed firmly into his leg. He shook his head no, not wanting to disturb Sora. Desperate, he turned his head to the side. “Yuzu?”

Yuzu stared at the cards in her hands, mumbling. “Halil… Olga… A-asuka!” She wiped at the tears in her eyes, Masumi reaching over and placing a hand on her knee.

Seeing no one, Yuuya nodded. “Could we… possibly meet again next week? I feel like we were really making… progress.” The crowd nodded, Yuuya hoping they would hold true. “Meeting adjourned.” He rapped the gavel, everyone getting up and putting away the chairs.

Saying goodbye one by one, everyone left Yuuya alone in the room. Digging into one of his numerous pockets, he pulled out his card: Yuusho. He stared intently at it, his hand shaking. “D-dad… what am I supposed to do? H-ho-how can I make them smile like th-this?” Yuusho just stared back, his face the same as it had been when Yuuri showed the card to him. He tried blinking them away, but the droplets of tears came free, splashing onto the paper. “I can’t…” He fell to the floor, clutching his face, “do this alone…”


End file.
